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Turbulence at the tropopause due to breaking Kelvin waves observed by the Equatorial Atmosphere Radar
Author(s) -
Fujiwara Masatomo,
Yamamoto Masayuki K.,
Hashiguchi Hiroyuki,
Horinouchi Takeshi,
Fukao Shoichiro
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2002gl016278
Subject(s) - tropopause , kelvin wave , atmosphere (unit) , clear air turbulence , turbulence , atmospheric sciences , turbulence kinetic energy , breaking wave , radar , environmental science , physics , meteorology , geophysics , geology , stratosphere , wave propagation , optics , telecommunications , computer science
The Equatorial Atmosphere Radar (EAR) installed in Sumatra Island, Indonesia, observed significant enhancement of turbulence in the tropopause region, 15–17 km, intermittently for ∼5 days in November 2001. The turbulence intensity was estimated with the spectral width of the radar echo power spectrum, and the turbulence during the period was a factor of up to ∼5 larger in kinetic energy than that in other periods. Further analyses confirm that the enhanced turbulence was convectively generated in the breaking phase of an equatorial Kelvin wave. Between July and December 2001, we observed at least three more prominent cases of the turbulence generation by breaking Kelvin waves in the tropopause region.